The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-01-21
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
The Constitutional Amendments,

To the Editor of tho indianapolis Journal
The Legislature could do no better thing TIA,
to ignore the pending amendments to the f,o,.
stitution, and in lieu of them pass an act prov;a.
ing for convention to amend the Constitu,;o,
at the earliest possible moment The pena;r.
amendments may not be specially Objectionable
bur they are unimportant and wholly in the in.
terest of officeholders, while there are impera.
tive demands for amendments Of the most vita,
character, so grave that no Legislature, within
the sixty days allotted it, can give them thu
proper consideration and attend to the necessarv
legislation. 1t is needless to name them
Everybody Of every party comedies this Il ia
not question Of party at all. The very fact
that amendments have been adopted in
patches makes convention necessary n
unity the instrument, for it is already 40
incongruous as to be self-cortradictory and in
convenient The amendment passed several
years ago relating to fees and salaries has ra.
NAMED imperative and will so remain forever
for want of a companion amendment which NAV
never be reached by the process of special
amendments. The change of election DAYS from
October to November has created confusion and
Inconvenience, requiring some Offices to be filed
twenty-three months before there is vacancy
electing, in some cases. all three County Com.
missioners at one election, removing any local
question as far as possible from the people Tho
present complication regarding the Lieutenant.
governor suggests the necessity of an amend
ment covering that and other things II s
nearly forty years since the adoption of the
present Constitution, a forty years in which
the world has lived more, done more
and learned more than in any preceding him.
dred years. There are forces at work affecting
social and economic questions that were not
dreamed of forty years ago. The people should
meet in convention and look these squarev in
the face. They are not questions on which peo-
pie divide party lines, as parties now con-
stituted but which may be the basis of party az
no distant day. to the confusion of the best in.
terests of the State
A convention need not be expensive, and Il
may be provided for so as to secure the best tai.
ent of the State. Let it be composed of about
one hundred members -one from each county in
the State and one from each city of 10 900 in
habitarts or from eight of the largest cities
The proposition to allow Ohio or Stark county
to have a representative equal to Marion
need alarm Either of those
counties can furnish man that will be equal t0
some VINO would be likely to be selected from
Marion. if Marion should send six. Besides
there is no reason why man living in Marion
county should vote for six Representatives while
his neighbour living in the next section west Of
him, in Hendricks, should vote for only oue
But whether the convention is provided for or
not. the pending amendments should not pass
If We cannot afford convention now let us not
ramper further with the old Constitution. but
endure its Inconvenience until we can afford
better Constitution through and through.
TT r. Grw